AHC WI Japan faces war for invasion of Manchuria

Is there any way the US and UK could have reacted to Japan's aggression in the early 1930s?

By the way does this create enough of a boom to end the depression?
 
Would require several earlier PoD to reach this DoW. Japan did this during a very low point in international activity.

No economic boom from this one. Tax revenues had fallen drastically, & the banking system was either chaotic, volatile, or weak. Take your pick. Printing money would have been inflationary. The WWII boom in the US was the result of a massive shift of capitol from Europe. Helping impoverish Europe.
 
The rest of the world was pretty busy with the Depression when Japan went in to Manchuria. The League of Nations, between this and the Italian attacks on Abyssinia/Ethiopia had been exposed as impotent. The USA was not going to go to war for a part of China most Americans could not find on a map with a gun to their heads in the early 1930s even had there been no depression. Frankly the Japanese occupation of Manchuria made no difference to anyone except the Soviets, who were unhappy with Japan on a land border, and the Chinese (sort of - how much control did the central government have there anyways). Just not going to happen without some major PODs.
 
Is there any way the US and UK could have reacted to Japan's aggression in the early 1930s?

I don't see why. Manchuria is far away and both countries are busy with other things.

The logistical problems are enormous for the US and really titanic for the UK.

If you want Japan to face a war for invading Manchuria, it has to come from the Soviet Union. The Soviets making war over the annexation of Manchuria would certainly be an interesting PoD. It would be interesting to see how they'd do and whether the purges go ahead (or are allowed to go so far) if the Soviets are in a serious war with Japan. It could lead to a much more experienced and better led Soviet army for when WW2 starts in Europe. It could also mean the Soviets are distracted and diplomatically (even more) isolated when the Germans are running riot in Europe.

For example, I wonder if the Soviets would partition Poland with Germany if they are distracted with a land war in Asia. Potentially, that wears the Germans down so much that they can't then defeat France, which completely butterflies WW2 as we know it...

And would the Soviets start a war with Finland if they are fighting in Japan? Would they try to annex the Baltic states?

Also, if the Soviets fight Japan over Manchuria, what would the Nationalist Chinese do?

fasquardon
 

nbcman

Donor
Reacted to Japan's invasion, yes. They could have applied trade sanctions on them or refused to cooperate with their military or government in other ways. Possibly they could have given arms and training to the Chinese. But there is no way the US or the UK would go to war with Japan in response to their invasion of Manchuria.
 
Soviets would not intervene would they? favored a divided China and also Japan bogged down there?

a view shared by probably every other country at the time? (at least privately)
 
ROC allies itself with the UK and becomes a trading partner and/or China helps in WW1 (maybe you see the British even set up some business over there). The two continue said trade until Japan attacks, the UK probably already don't like Imperial Japan as is (despite being on the same side), so maybe they use their overseas territories to start a war that way first and then maybe sending their own troops afterwards (after all, the logistics of waging a war with a country the other side of the world was insane at the time).
 
Is there any way the US and UK could have reacted to Japan's aggression in the early 1930s?

By the way does this create enough of a boom to end the depression?
Frankly, I don't see either interfering with Japan as early as 1931. Britain (especially it's government), until Hitler's occupation of Czechoslovakia, was most unwilling to get involved in ANY major war, remembering the horrors of the Great War. As for America, I bet Hoover would have much more to worry about. However, FDR was more than willing to punish Japan for it's ruthless warmongering. He even wanted to impose a naval blockade on Japan in response to the invasion of the rest of China, but the British government's refusal to get interfer made America's involvement much more limited. If Roosevelt had his way, Japan would be hit much more economically and begin to consider more drastic pans earlier than usual. But since the majority of Americans were still content with isolation, America would still not go to war with Japan until Pearl Harbor.
 
However, FDR was more than willing to punish Japan for it's ruthless warmongering. He even wanted to impose a naval blockade on Japan in response to the invasion of the rest of China, but the British government's refusal to get interfer made America's involvement much more limited. If Roosevelt had his way, Japan would be hit much more economically and begin to consider more drastic pans earlier than usual. But since the majority of Americans were still content with isolation, America would still not go to war with Japan until Pearl Harbor.

Britain's refusal? It was the other way round. After the HMS Ladybird and USS Panay were attacked by Japan, Chamberlain wanted a joint UK-US show of force to send a strong message to Japan for their aggression. Roosevelt refused and thought the Japanese apology for the USS Panay incident was sufficient.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_foreign_policy_of_the_Chamberlain_ministry#United_States
 
Britain's refusal? It was the other way round. After the HMS Ladybird and USS Panay were attacked by Japan, Chamberlain wanted a joint UK-US show of force to send a strong message to Japan for their aggression. Roosevelt refused and thought the Japanese apology for the USS Panay incident was sufficient.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_foreign_policy_of_the_Chamberlain_ministry#United_States
Well, according to this documentary, Roosevelt wanted to impose a naval blockade of Japan over the destruction in China, but the British did not want to escalate into war, so they stayed out of it. The evidence in question is 19 minutes and 16 seconds in.

 
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